Tag: Things Having Nothing to do with Anything

Armored Core 5

If there’s one thing I love it’s games where you get to pilot heavily armed giant walking robots. While this category can be fairly niche (especially since I tend to lean more towards giant robot simulators) the Armored Core series is the most niche of the niche. Sadly my Xbox 360’s disc drive has been unusable for a few years. I finally got around to not being a cheap ass and getting a new 360, which means I can now play Armored Core 5, which means I wasn’t blogging last night.

But, seriously, this is pretty hard to turn down:

I’m also happy to report that Armored Core 5 pretty much requires an engineering degree in order to play, as it should.

I’m Not the Only One Who Thinks Hillary is Interchangeable with Most Republicans

Let’s say you had some financial conference where George W. Bush was planned to be your keynote speaker. Now, for whatever reasons, let’s say Georgie couldn’t make it. Who would you get to replace him? Perhaps Dick Cheney? Too frightening. Maybe John McCain. But he’d just waste everybody’s time talking about how he wants to butcher every man, woman, and child in the Middle East. There’s always Mitt Romney. Then again you never know what he’s going to say with how often he changes his mind on things. I guess that leaves one well-known politician who exhibits everything that is the Republican Party; Hillary Clinton:

Former President George W. Bush was supposed to give a speech to Ameriprise Financial conference in Boston next week but had to bow out because he’s recovering from surgery on a bum knee. But the financial services firm was able to secure a prominent substitute speaker: Hillary Clinton.

Clinton’s speech, confirmed by two sources familiar with the event, is the latest in a series of paid speaking-circuit gigs for the former secretary of state and likely 2016 presidential contender, who charges upward of $200,000 to deliver remarks or take part in question-and-answer sessions.

$200,000 dollars? And she is bitching about being broke? Talk about fiscal irresponsibility, which is yet another reason she’s the perfect Republican.

But, seriously, if anybody wants a keynote speaker to talk about bombing people in the Middle East and terrorizing people at home I’d be willing to do so for much less than $200,000. I might even be willing to do it so for the price of my expenses alone if I could record it and post it on YouTube later. I’d even dress up as a fascist for full effect. My e-mail address is on the left-hand side of this blog. If you’re interested drop me an e-mail.

Five Advantages of the Semi-Automatic Pistol

I came across an old article that discusses five advantages of revolvers. The article wasn’t unfair but I felt as though the advantages being given to the revolver was mostly applicable, or similar, to semi-automatic pistols. So I decided to go through the list and replace revolver advantages with similar pistol advantages. Keep in mind that I’m not implying that pistols are superior to revolvers. Only you can determine what is the best type of gun for you. I couldn’t care less what you carried or preferred.

Pistols are Efficient

The nice thing about modern pistols, especially the popular polymer frame ones, is that their internals are very simple. Unlike revolvers, which have roughly a bajillion springs so they can pull the hammer back and rotate the cylinder when you pull the trigger, there really aren’t a lot of parts inside of a pistol. They usually consist of a trigger that activates a striker that sets off the chambered cartridges primer. The action usually operates on the recoil of a fired cartridge instead of internal mechanical mechanisms. Detail stripping a pistol is generally much easier than detail stripping a revolver thanks to the simplified internals.

Pistols are Reliable and Field Repairable

Revolvers are often held in high regard for their reliability. Since revolvers aren’t reliant on ammunition and proper grip they can ignore many malfunctions that can occur on pistols. But the number of malfunctions one will encounter on a modern pistol, assuming they are using proper ammunition and not limp wristing like a bitch, are very few. I can count the number of malfunctions that I’ve encountered with my Glocks on my fingers. Not only are malfunctions rare but they’re generally field addressable. While malfunctions on revolvers are rare they are mechanical devices, which means they will fail. The problem is when a revolve fails it’s usually out of commission until you can take it apart and address the mechanical failure. Malfunctions on pistols tend to be ammunition related and can be correct in the field with the proper clearance procedure.

Pistols Will Fit Anyone

Pistols come in all sizes. You can get large full-size pistols from Glock, Springfield Armory, Smith and Wesson, FN, Beretta and almost every other pistol manufacturer. You can also get midsize and compact pistols from these same manufacturers. Want a full-size competition pistol? No problem. Would you prefer a Glock 21, Smith and Wesson M&P, or a Springfield XD? Need something that will fit in your pocket? How about a Ruger LCP, Smith and Wesson Shield, or Beretta Nano? Whatever your need you can find a pistol that will fit it.

Pistols Use Magazines

One of the reason modern militaries and police departments largely choose pistols is because revolvers don’t hold much ammunition and take longer to reload than pistols. With a revolver you generally have five or six shots. When those have been expended you have to open the cylinder, eject the spent casings, and load new cartridges. Loading new cartridges can be done one at a time, with speed strips, or with speed loaders. Speed loaders are the fastest of the three but they are shaped similar to the revolver’s cylinder so they tend to be awkward to carry. Pistols on the other hand can carry a lot of ammunition. Many full-size 9mms, for example, hold 17 rounds in their magazines. If you also have a round chambered that’s three times the capacity of a revolver. When you do run out reloading pistols is as easy as pressing a button to drop the empty magazine, inserting a fresh magazine into the grip, and releasing the slide (assuming you fired the pistol to empty).

Pistol Triggers are Reasonably Weighted

My first handgun was a revolver so I grew up on a heavy trigger. But many people didn’t and find heavy triggers difficult to use accurately. Fortunately most pistols have lighter triggers. The popular polymer frame pistols often have five or so pound triggers. That means they’re light enough for most people to shoot accurately but heavy enough to avoid being negligently fired.

As If She Hadn’t Assaulted Us With Enough Terrible Literature Already

Even thought she’s in the grave Ayn Rand can’t help but assault us with more of her shitty literature:

IRVINE, CA–(Marketwired – June 16, 2014) – The Ayn Rand Institute is excited to announce the new publication of a lost Ayn Rand novel. Ayn Rand’s work Ideal, written in 1934, is scheduled for release by Penguin Random House in July of 2015 and will be paired with Rand’s play of the same name into a single volume. The introduction will be written by Rand’s designated heir, Leonard Peikoff.

“We are delighted to share this wonderful news,” said ARI executive director Yaron Brook.

I guess somebody has to be delighted. On the upside it was written in 1934, so it predates Atlas Shrugged. That means it probably won’t contain a three billion word monolog by Objectivist Jesus. On the downside it’s written by Ayn Rand. That means it will have one dimensional characters, a boring story, and the pain that comes from being beaten over the head with Objectivism.

I’m sure there are a lot of libertarians who are already jerking themselves off to the idea of another Ayn Rand novel. Me, I prefer literature that is entertaining and doesn’t try to preach a One True Religion to me.

Dipshit, Dipshits Everywhere

Minneapolis is home of two extremely annoying groups: dumbass hipsters and control freaks. The former want to be special snowflakes and by doing so because conformists in the hipster culture while the latter want you to seek their personal approval for everything little thing you do.

Control freaks are interesting folk. They will go to pretty absurd lengths in their vain attempt to make the world how they believe it should be. Last night I had an unpleasant encounter with a control freak while riding the mean bike trails of Minneapolis. This person believed that everybody should ride bikes and he saw the barrier between reality and utopia being bicycle helmets. I know this because he bitched at me for my sin of wearing a helmet. In his twisted little world the act of wearing a bicycle helmet creates the appearance that bicycling is dangerous. By not wearing a helmet he believes bicycling would appear safer to non-bicyclists, which would convince them to become bicyclists.

This is one of the many reasons why I hate control freaks. No amount of dumbassery (you control freaks whining about how dumbassery isn’t a real world cannot see the middle finger that I’m holding up in your direction but know that it’s there) is beyond them if their crusade against those who dare do differently than them. Are not enough people riding bicycles? No problem, just have everybody put their lives at risk by not wearing a helmet so the activity appears to be safer! Because that will totally work.

Here’s the thing, I don’t care if you wear a helmet or not. I don’t even care if you ride a bike or not. Do whatever makes you happy in whatever manner makes you happy. But if asking people to put themselves in danger makes you happy I’m going to call you a dumbass.

As an unrelated side note I feel it is worth pointing out that the dumbass didn’t seem to notice the gun I was openly carrying. Unlike the boys over at Open Carry Texas I can open carry a gun without being an attention whore about it.

Whose Cheerios Did I Piss In

Anybody who has sent an e-mail to my blog account knows that my response times are seldom speedy. I usually don’t touch my e-mail in any regard over the weekend so last night when I finally got around to checking the weekend’s e-mails I was surprised. Normally I get two or three e-mails on my blog account over the weekend but this weekend I received 43. 40 of these were from people who are apparently very upset with me. What I find most interesting about this slew of e-mails is that the accusations don’t make a whole lot of sense to me. Here are some of the more entertaining messages I received (poor grammar preserved for LULZ):

I found you nazi shitbag.

I don’t like nazi shit bags. You think you can write about white rights and get away with it? I’m going to call your host and have your site removed!!!! What do you have to say about that you piece of shit?

Um… good luck?

Hey you mens rights fuckhead, we know who you are. We don’t tolerate misogynists in Minneapolis. We’re going to burn your fucking house down.

Well that’s not very nice. Also, mens’ rights? I’m kind of curious where that accusation stems from.

You scumsucking shitforbrains. Im going to kill you you fascist piece of shit.

I’m sorry sir or ma’am but it appears as though there is a line forming to kill me. If you will take a number I’ll help you as soon as possible.

You think your so smart but we know where you live. You either take down this blog or we’re going to take you out. You have been warned.

Take me out where? I do enjoy Chinese food. Can we go somewhere that serves General Tso’s chicken?

Hey Christopher Burg,

Do you think you and spread your Nazi filth without getting your ass kicked? We’re going to put you in an oven and roast you alive. I hope you have your will in order.

I don’t recall writing any form of Nazi propaganda on this site. In fact, as an anarchist, I probably hate Nazis more than the most zealous social justice crusader. Also, as a word of warning, burning flesh and hair smells awful. Seriously, pluck a few hairs from your head and light them on fire then take a whiff. Do you really want to be smelling that for the several hours?

Christopher Burg,

Your a sexist racist nazi asshole. I take pleasure in killing sick fucks like you. I know where you live and I’m going to get you when you least expect it. When I do I’m going to start by skinning you slowly. I will take a strip of skin off of you with a vegetable peeler once an hour. Then I’m going to hang you from your arms and light a fire under your feet so they burn. Then I’m going to pour vinegar in your wounds. Then I’m going to make you drink rubbing alcohol until your insides turn to must. Then I’m going to finish it off by covering you in gasoline and lighting you on fire.

that-escalated-quickly

There are several things worth noting here. First, the art of closing a written message is dead. Not a single angry e-mail concluded with “Sincerely”, “Yours truly”, “I hope you die”, or anything like that. This saddens me. Second, I really need to put ads up on this site so I can make some money off of these people. I assume that they visited my site before sending off their angry e-mails but I can’t be sure since the accusations really don’t jive with the articles I’ve written. Third, the art of intimidation, like the art of closing a written message, is dead. Before the days of the Internet people at least had the courtesy of sending a letter composed of individual letters cut out of newspaper and magazine articles and pasted to the sheet of paper. Sometimes if they really wanted to intimidate you they would nail a burlap sack containing a dead cat or severed horse head to your door. Now people are lazy and just send angry e-mails. People need to own their anger and take pride in it. Fourth, starting each successive sentence with the same word is dull. Take a look at the last letter. It’s all “Then I’m going to do this” and “Then I’m going to do this”. There’s nothing more disappointing than a grammatically lazy death threat.

But I think the most important thing that needs to be pointed out is how disappointed I am in my newfound fan base. I partially attribute my disappointment to the shorter attention span most Americans have today. But if you are angry enough to write a death threat to somebody you should at least have the decency to perform a followup. According to the timestamps the vast majority of angry e-mails were sent on Friday. A few more came in on Saturday and only two of the e-mails came in on Sunday. There wasn’t a single e-mail from yesterday. Talk about a lack of dedication. If my newfound fan base was truly dedicated to hating my guts I could have had posting material for several days. But they’re lazy so I really only have enough material for a single post, which means I will have to actually look for things to write about.

Before I close this post I have a favor to ask of my newly found fan base. If one of you would be so kind as to inform me of the specific post that made you so upset I would greatly appreciate it. That way I can write more of the same. Then you can continue your feed on your impotent rage and I can stick some ads up on this site and make a little money. It would be a mutually beneficial relationship.

Is Political Correctness an Attempt to Overcome a Feeling of Powerlessness

Something I have been thinking about lately is the political correctness movement. By that I mean the movement that seems to seek out things to be offended by. Everything seems to be offensive to somebody today. I’m not referring to things like racism, sexism, or other forms of bigotry. Simply using select words or having conversations on certain topics will cause somebody to claim that they are offended.

Calling something retarded will often put you at the receiving end of a fiery diatribe. Using gendered terms (which are hard to avoid when you’re using the English language) can summon the wrath of the soldiers fighting in the great Gender Wars. Many people become offended by merely hearing topics be brought up. Want to discuss the potential of cannabis as a weapon against cancer? You will almost certainly be accused of spreading harmful rumors that will kill people. Bringing up the detrimental characteristics of centralized education will lead to you being accused of hating children. I could go on but I think you get the point.

The more I think about this the more I wonder if this upsurge in political correctness is, at least in part, due to an increased sensation of powerlessness and an attempt to reassert a feeling of empowerment. Part of what got me thinking along these lines is the psychological phenomenon known as reactance:

Psychological reactance occurs in response to threats to perceived behavioral freedoms. An example of such behavior can be observed when an individual engages in a prohibited activity in order to deliberately taunt the authority who prohibits it, regardless of the utility or disutility that the activity confers.

I believe there is an overall increasing feeling of powerlessness in our society. Part of this is due to the government command more and more of our daily lives, part of it is due to the faltering economy that has left many unemployed for extended lengths of time, part of it is due to the realization that we the people have no effective voice in regards to government, etc. In the grand scheme of things we don’t seem to have much power. How best could one restore a feeling of empowerment? By wielding power over another.

When you say something politically incorrect is will often result in one or two people trying to shout you down. Shortly after those first people begin they will often be joined by more and more people. I’m wondering if those instances go something like this:

Jane: “Blah blah blah something potentially offensive blah blah blah.”

Bob: “I can’t believe you said that! You’re a racist sexist bigot bad person!”

Adam: “Shut the fuck up, Bob! You can’t go around spewing that offensive hate mongering here!”

At this point Bob and Adam are beginning to feel a little power. The two of them are succeeding in shutting Jane up.

Jenny: “What did Jane say? What a fucking bitch! I want to kicker her ass!”

Now Jenny is feeling a little power while Bob and Adam are beginning to feel even more power. Not only did they manage to shut Jane up but other people are following them. They’re becoming leaders!

As more people join in shouting Jane down the feeling of empowerment (for everybody except Jane) increases. Through this act of taking offense people have been able to gain a feeling that they do have power over their world. Since political correctness is, by definition, politically acceptable there is no real chance that authorities will step in to stop those people from silencing Jane.

I claim to have no scientific basis for this thought. It’s merely an idea that I have developed to explain observations. But it is an interesting thought exercise nonetheless. Could political correctness be an attempt by the powerless to feel empowered? Could this explain how political correctness has become more prevalent as the general feeling of empowerment has diminished?

Coding Anarchy

As you may have noticed I’m an anarchist (if you haven’t noticed now you know). I also enjoy giving my friends free publicity. To this end I’m going to plug one of my friend’s new anarchist blog titled Coding Anarchy.

In the spectrum of anarchism he falls flatly on the anarcho-capitalist side; or the not-a-real-anarchist side for those of you anarchists who really don’t like the capitalist flavor of anarchism*. If that offends you in any way then feel free not to click on the link. For those not so easily offended you can expect posts related to economics and other geeky pursuits.

*Please send all hate me regarding me referring to anarcho-capitalism as a form of anarchism to i_dont_give_a_fuck@christopherburg.com**.

**This is not a real e-mail address.